Bitcoin has shed some of its gains in recent weeks as investors struggle with a combination of macroeconomic uncertainties

The U.S. announced surprisingly strong unemployment and GDP figures, but crypto investors had been concerned about debt ceiling negotiations Thursday.

They recently kept bitcoin hovering below $26,500, nearly 0.3 per cent higher but below its latest nearly two-week-long range between this level and $27,500. The original coin has shed some of its gains achieved this year in recent weeks as investors struggle with a combination of macroeconomic uncertainties, most apparently of late the U.S.’s continuing debt limit deadlock that will decide if the U.S. government can pay its bills. On Thursday, Republican House lawmakers reported headway in negotiations, but whether the sides can reach agreement in time to prevent a government default remains to be seen.

Debt ceiling worries are certainly weighing on bitcoin and crypto generally, Riyad Carey, research analyst at Kaiko, stated to CoinDesk. We have been quite range-bound in the last few weeks as there have not been many crypto-specific impetus.

He does not anticipate any marked price movement in bitcoin’s price in the recent future, if not later with the next important impetus, the bitcoin halving, nearly a year away. Of course, regulatory developments could shake this up, Carey stated.

Ether was recently trading at just more than $1,812, nearly 0.3 per cent higher from Wednesday. Majority of other leading cryptocurencies were slightly in the green with MATIC, Polygon’s token, recently adding 2 per cent.

Tech stocks appeared to hover after chipmaker Nvidia stated sales would increase because of the growth of AI protocols. Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 jumped 1.7 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively. Gold continued its recent drop less than a month after hitting a near record high, dropping more than a percentage point to trade at $1,959.

But other assets appeared generally unaffected by Thursday’s jobs figures, which showed 229,000 Americans filing unemployment benefits past week, well below the expected 245,000, and the U.S. economy growing 1.3 per cent, the third successive quarter of growth. Earlier in 2023 and all through 2022, such news might have sent digital assets cascading.